The invention relates generally to cup lids, and more particularly to a drink-through cup lid having a reversible opening.
Fast food restaurants, coffee shops, convenience stores and the like, typically distribute beverages in disposable drinking cups. These cups are often provided with drink-through lids having reversible openings, which permit the consumption of liquids contained therein, while at the same time preventing unwanted spillage. Drink-through lids with reversible openings are especially desirable when distributing hot beverages, such as coffee, tea, hot chocolate and the like.
Various drink-through lid designs incorporating reversible openings are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,609 (""609) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,927 (""927) each disclose a lid having a drinking opening and a hinged closure member integrally formed therewith. The hinged closure member has a radial dimension greater than that of the drinking opening to permit an outward marginal edge portion of the closure member to be trapped between the rim of the drinking cup and an overlying part of the lid. The hinged closure member further includes a raised tab which is received in a complementary recess formed in the lid, when the hinged closure member is rotated outward one hundred eighty degrees (180) about its integral hinge to expose the drinking opening.
Other cup lid designs that incorporate reversible openings, include U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,629 (""629), which provides a downwardly depressible tab portion. The tab portion includes a hollow lip-engaging corrugated buttress to insulatively engage a user""s upper lip pressed there-against. The buttress member also selectively acts to bias the tab portion back into its normally closed position within the horizontal plane of the lid when lip pressure is removed therefrom.
The present inventors have identified several limitations in aforementioned prior art lid designs. One drawback of the ""609 and ""927 patent designs is the hinged portion of each lid is rotatable only in one direction, i.e, up and out of the plane of the lid. The hinged portions cannot be resiliently depressed into the lids. Thus, the hinged portions each have only one mode of operation in which they must be opened and closed manually. Another disadvantage of these designs is their integral hinges bias the tabs out of the lid recesses when the tabs of the hinged portions are engaged therein. Still another disadvantage is their hinged closure members must be gripped with both a thumb and forefinger for manipulation. Yet another disadvantage is the hinged portions of these lid designs are formed by creating a break in the peripheral rim engaging portion of the lids, which may compromise the integrity of the seal between the lid and a cup rim.
The ""629 patent design also is limited to one mode of operationxe2x80x94the tab only is resiliently depressible into the lid. The tab of the ""629 patent is not adapted for rotation out of the plane of the cover portion of the lid.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a lid design having multiple modes of operation, wherein a hinged portion of the lid could be either resiliently pressed down into the lid, or manually rotated out of the plane of the lid, to provide a drinking opening. The preferred lid design would include a protruding tab that detachably lockingly engages a recess in the lid, and is retained in the recess by a biasing force of an integrally formed hinge. The ideal lid design would also be simple and hence cost effective to manufacture.
The invention provides a drink-through cup lid adapted to matingly engage the upper peripheral edge of a drinking cup so as to selectively maintain the lid in a covering relationship on the cup. The lid includes a rim engaging portion and a central cover portion. The central cover portion further includes a hinged portion which is selectively depressible to so as to provide a drinking opening in the lid, the hinged portion biased so as to selectively substantially return to its normally closed position within the plane of the central cover portion upon removal of pressure there-against. The hinged portion includes a hollow raised tab integrally formed thereon. A recess which is integrally formed on the central cover portion of the lid is adapted to selectively receive the raised tab of the hinged portion.
Another aspect of the invention is a method for reversibly providing an opening in a drink-through lid including the steps of: securing the lid to the rim of a cup, releasing from the surrounding lid material a tab thereby defining an opening in the lid, and rotating the tab about a hinge into nested engagement in a recess in the lid, wherein the hinge biases the tab in the recess.